While most characters' fates are pretty final, there are some who we can't help but ponder whether we'll see them again. Remember the iron-clad rule: if we don't see a body, they could still be alive. Here are some of the most ambiguous TV deaths, and the chances of them still being around somewhere...

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1. Tony Soprano (The Sopranos)

The ultimate ambiguous TV death is taken from the most ambiguous TV ending ever. The final moments of the HBO crime drama sees Tony look up from his table after someone enters the restaurant, only for the screen to quickly cut to black. And then credits.

The scene has been the subject of much debate ever since (once everyone figured out that their TVs weren't broken). The general consensus is that Tony was shot, killed instantly, and thus the Sopranos story is also instantly over.

In 2014, creator David Chase shocked everyone by apparently claiming that Tony is actually alive (at the end of the series at least). But just a day later, his rep clarified his comments, saying: "A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying, 'Tony Soprano is not dead,' is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true.

"As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, 'Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point' To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer."

It'll probably never be confirmed either way, but chances are Tony was whacked.

Swordfighter supremo Syrio remains one of the few Thrones characters to never really get a proper send-off. The last we saw of him, he was squaring off against baddie Meryn Trant with just a wooden sword. We never heard from him again, and we're left to assume he died a valiant death.

But this is Game of Thrones. People come back from the dead all the time. Could Syrio make a triumphant return one day? Is he actually a Faceless Man, who has been around all the time without us realising it?

Maisie Williams hoped so. The actress who played Syrio's student said in 2016: "I always was like, 'Oh, no, I feel like he's still alive.' I always had my own theory that he and Jaqen [H'ghar] were the same person. But then, show runners David Benioff and DB Weiss told her: "No, he is dead."

"I was like, 'Oh, OK,'" Williams added. "So that put that to bed really quickly, but I guess we can all still dream."

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But what about actor Miltos Yerolemou? "Of course I would want to return to Game of Thrones," he told Digital Spy in 2016. "People always ask me, 'Did he really die?' and the thing is you don't know. And I have my own theories and Dave [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] have their own theories, and that's the way it is.

"And the crazy thing about Game of Thrones – obviously it's a series of books as well – is that the fans have created their own mythology, and the mythology is as real as the books and the TV show. I don't actually know [whether Syrio died or not] but even if I did, I wouldn't tell you! And that's part of the fun of it – you never know."

David Palmer's younger brother was the actual President during Day 6, but by the end of the season he suffered a brain haemorrhage and fell into a coma. And we never saw or heard about the guy again.

It turns out, that his apparent "death" was mentioned in a prop newspaper written for 24: Redemption, and was also referenced in DVD liner notes, but as this has never explicitly been confirmed on screen, we'd like to think that Wayne's still out there somewhere.

Actor DB Woodside seemed hopeful that Wayne would make a comeback in 2007, saying: "Anybody who watches 24 knows that the characters of 24 constantly kind of go away, maybe for a year, come back, go away, come back – unless they're dead. So what I can say is that Wayne Palmer does not die. That's what I can say, is he's not dead, so we'll see. We'll see what happens."

Someone better break it to DB.

4. Ziva David (NCIS)

Ever since Cote de Pablo left NCIS in 2013, fans have been hoping for a reunion with her character Ziva and Michael Weatherly's Tony DiNozzo.

However, in Weatherly's final episode, Tony learnt that Ziva had apparently been killed, and resigned from his position to care for their young child. But fans are still eager to see the popular pairing back together – with some speculating that Ziva character could still be alive, since the character's body was never recovered. Obviously.

"I absolutely see worlds where DiNozzo and other characters could pop up [again]," he told us earlier this month. "It is something I'm very keen to explore when the time is right."

In 2016, NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg remained coy, saying: "NCIS is a show and a franchise that's known historically for leaving lots of things unanswered and leaving all doors opens. We revisit all kinds of things in all kinds of ways. We never say never and I'm not going to stray from that kind of approach."

5. Jason Gideon (Criminal Minds)

Mandy Patinkin was the original lead on Criminal Minds, but when he chose to quit the show after two years, his troubled character Gideon was also written out. He retired from hunting killers and embarked on a quest to find inner peace. Nice.

But then, the writers opted to have the character murdered offscreen eight years later. Not nice. But could Jason actually be alive in the Criminal Minds world?

Probably not. Producer Erica Messer said in 2015: "You're seeing [Gideon's] whole life as an FBI agent and the personal side of having a child he wanted to have but maybe wasn't as good of a dad as he wanted to be.

"It felt like after 10 years, these are things that do happen to agents who have worked together for a long time. Their friends die, even in the line of duty." That's pretty conclusive. Plus, we doubt Homeland star Patinkin would want to return anyway, after he described appearing in the show as his "biggest public mistake".

6. Lynn Echolls (Veronica Mars)

Lisa Rinna played Lynn, the mother of Veronica's on-off boyfriend Logan. After a breakdown in her marriage and revelation of her husband's many infidelities, she is assumed to have jumped off a bridge to her death.

However, Logan refused to believe that his mother was dead, claiming she left him clues that she was still alive, and that she was faking her death to get away from his dad. Logan then hired Veronica to prove his mother was alive. While he eventually gave up, a body was never discovered. Could she have actually faked her death?

When asked if Rinna could be making a return way back in late 2005, creator Rob Thomas gave an instant no. "No plans for Lisa Rinna. Alas, poor Lynn Echolls has shuffled off her mortal coil," he said.

Lynn never returned throughout the rest of the show, or even its 2014 movie. It looks like we'll never truly find out what happened.